1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a method for determining the location of a vehicle using a GPS receiver and a predefinable coordinate system, especially a city map, map, nautical chart or the like. The invention also concerns a corresponding device.
2. Description of Related Art
Methods and devices of the generic type are adequately known from practice in the context of now common vehicle navigation systems. A GPS receiver is used to determine the location of the vehicle and the coordinates obtained via the GPS receiver are projected onto a city map or map or a nautical chart or the like. The exact position of the corresponding vehicle on the map or on the coordinate system so defined can be determined and displayed.
The method known from practice for determining the location of the vehicle, however, is problematical to the extent that it relies on good GPS reception. Especially in large cities with high buildings, for example, in a large city, like New York, the GPS signals are blocked by buildings forming ravines or generally repeatedly reflected on the building facades. This leads to interference in GPS reception and often to incorrect determination of the position of the GPS receiver. Imprecise or incorrect projection into the coordinate system is the result. This applies both with respect to corresponding methods, and also with respect to a corresponding device.
The underlying task of the invention is therefore to configure and modify a method and also a device for determining the location of the vehicle using a GPS receiver or another appropriate system for determination of the location and a predefinable coordinate system, especially a city map, a map, a nautical chart or the like, so that incorrect determination of location due to “poor” GPS signals is largely eliminated.